Life is scary: Why not religion? (America, evolution, God, heaven)
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there is no doubt that religion has benefits. And some of the self help stuff is great belief based self help. At least as good as any atheist belief based self help I have seen.
Its just some of the beliefs they push. The magic and blind faith stuff just allows it to be used as a weapon to easily.
I'm usually sympathetic to your efforts but we have to part ways just a bit here. There is no doubt religion has benefits? No doubt at all? None at all is a very large class and it is seldom or never accurate. Careful, please.
I'm usually sympathetic to your efforts but we have to part ways just a bit here. There is no doubt religion has benefits? No doubt at all? None at all is a very large class and it is seldom or never accurate. Careful, please.
I think religion has some benefits, and I have little doubt about that. I just don't see religion as all bad. I just don't see how all bad is a possibility.
If you put 5 PHD folks in a room and question each one regarding the same issue. All will give different answers and think they are each right. Which one is right? All could be in 1 form or another. All could also be wrong.
This struck me as odd, primarily because it's not true. Aside from being thrown off for not writing out numbers five and one, which is a silly error, at least in serious discourse, it is by no means accurate that five PhDs will all, always and invariably, give different answers. Most established bodies of knowledge--the bulk, certainly--is agreed upon and not controversial, at all. There are controversies, disagreements, refinements. But the larger part, at least in the hard sciences, there is more agreement than disagreement.
I think religion has some benefits, and I have little doubt about that. I just don't see religion as all bad. I just don't see how all bad is a possibility.
Okay. But that's not what you said.
I would maintain there is not enough good to balance the bad, that is, the loss in intellectual integrity, and the long, bloody history of control, domination, racism, sexism, all of it. Because it provides cultural or social cohesion? Or guidance, but guidance based on dishonest precepts?
I'm usually sympathetic to your efforts but we have to part ways just a bit here. There is no doubt religion has benefits? No doubt at all? None at all is a very large class and it is seldom or never accurate. Careful, please.
All Arach left out was "for many."
Religion does indeed have benefits for very many people. To argue otherwise is simply silly.
I would maintain there is not enough good to balance the bad, that is, the loss in intellectual integrity, and the long, bloody history of control, domination, racism, sexism, all of it. Because it provides cultural or social cohesion? Or guidance, but guidance based on dishonest precepts?
That price is way too high!
I said that religion has benefits, not that it is all good. But yes, i can see your point. I feel a risk vs benefit leans towards the benefit but I can see some people leaning the other way. Especially when we are talking over organized religion and things like the biblegod putting its grubby biblegod fingers in our slice of the pie.
And I really base that on taking the human species as just a smart great ape.
As most adults know or eventually learn, there are a lot of scary elements in life and to paraphrase Russell, some of which are sure to happen to you. There's not just the ultimate surety of death, but illness, pain, depression, and a host of other psychological terrors. Conflict, fear.
To be clear, I'm not supporting any kind of notion that religion is acceptable because it offers a panacea for all the negatives in life. What I'm asking is, how do you counter this argument?
Personally, my strongest argument against this perspective is that truth has a value all its own, and living in fantasy land, based on fear, is not intellectually respectable.
What other reasons can you list?
I think, you are on solid path to acquire faith of some sort, Kara.
Religion does indeed have benefits for very many people. To argue otherwise is simply silly.
That's not all he left out. He should have also specified that according to his perspective, there is no doubt.
Religion has benefits, obviously, but at what cost? That's very close to the topic. If you decide to accept some set of religious precepts, you have to obfuscate, ignore or discredit that part of reality that contradicts your religion. That's the opposite of the scientific method, where views are held tentatively, subject to better evidence, should it become available.
That's not all he left out. He should have also specified that according to his perspective, there is no doubt.
Religion has benefits, obviously, but at what cost? That's very close to the topic. If you decide to accept some set of religious precepts, you have to obfuscate, ignore or discredit that part of reality that contradicts your religion. That's the opposite of the scientific method, where views are held tentatively, subject to better evidence, should it become available.
I don't think I have to say "my perspective". there is no doubt that religions help many people. that's safe to say, as you just said yourself.
yes, at what cost? well, i look at anti-religious countries and compare them to religious countries and see what gives. It seems Countries with freedom of religion are better off then those with out it.
Yes, i think we all agree that religion needs to be as influential as the local youth lacrosse league.
how we do that matters.
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